to want to complain about this "jobsworth" Pharmacy assistant?

[diabolo]

Scenario - me at work with thumping headache and no painkillers.

So after work I popped in to the Pharmacy around the corner from my school and ask the Pharmacy assistant for a packet of Solpadiene (after many years of being prescribed all sorts for my hormone headaches these are the ONLY thing that work).

The assistant frowned at me and said "Solpadiene? For you? I think you've bought them from here before!" [stern look]

Me "Probably, I work around the corner so you're very convenient for me"

Her "Well...... I'm sorry but I don't think I'm going to be able to let you have any. I recognise you and I'm sure you've bought them before. We have to make sure people don't get addicted to them, they've got Codeine in them you see?"

Me "Yes I know that, perhaps that's why they work so well?. I have bought them from here before, but I don't see that makes me addicted to them. I only use them when I've got my period. Can I have a pack of 32 please?"

Her "No, sorry. I'm just obeying the law. We can't sell them to people we believe to be addicts!" [you should have seen my face at this point

Me - "Let me get this right? You are refusing to sell me some painkillers that DO NOT need a prescription, and that can be taken by 12 year olds and that you have on general display? Can I speak to the Pharmacist please?"

Her - "Sorry, she's at lunch for another half an hour".

Me - "Are you going to sell me these headache tablets or do I need to make a formal complaint about you".

Her - "I can't sell them to you when I believe that you have bought them before. I'm trying to help you. I can sell you another product but not one with Codeine in. You can't complain about me because I'm only following the law".

This whole exchange took place in front of 3 other customers. I ended up driving (head thumping madly by this point) 20 minutes across the town to another Pharmacy, where the Pharmacist himself sold me a pack with only the usual warning of "don't take them for more than 3 days in a row and don't take with any other product containing paracetamol".

Should I complain? I am still furious (and I still have a headache).

It is madness I do agree

Ooohhh...I just lurve jobsworth pharmacy assistants...almost as much as I love jobsworth doctor's receptionists.

Some of the ones I have met had obviously failed the IQ test to be traffic wardens.

d'ya know she sounds like an ex-nursing sister(suspended from nursing) I know who now works in a pharmacy. She'd def be a jobsworth power freak like this.

Total bloody jobsworth- and missing the spirit of the legislation completely.

If it's codeine I suspect it was a P product so she could have only sold it to you if the pharmacist was there ( I used to work for alliance chemists)
But yes you do get jobsworth who think they are pharmacists when they are merely assistants. She should not have embarrassed you so I'd go in and ask to speak to the manager if they are a bigger chain like Boots then I'd complain to headoffice. There's one thing being told no we can't sell them to you as there's no pharmacist there's another embarrassing you and accusing you as an addict.

My local pharmacy makes a fuss about selling me more than one 50g packet of citric acid, they say it's on a list of stuff that may be used by dealers. I have to go to a different town unless I want it with a side of pointed questions and mutters.

I want it for making elderflower cordial

You can buy Solpadeine Max online FFS.
Complain.

I take lots of Codeine, I probably would have withdrawal symptoms if I came off it, but it's prescribed as I need to take it, both for painkilling reasons and as it's a cough suppressant.
I trust my GP to manage my symptoms when and if I am able to stop taking it.

I appreciate being addicted is not a good thing, but to refuse someone a packet because they bought them once before, is ridiculous.

I had a pharmacist refuse to sell me Piriton because I made the mistake of telling him that I was bf a 1 year old. Went home and checked with my best friend (well, actually it was her dh - but they are both GPs). He said, "Well, it's unlikely to have any effect at this age but at worst it might make your ds a wee bit sleepy.... and your problem with that is....????????"

I went to another pharmacy and didn't bother telling them I was bf.

If she couldn't sell them without a pharmacist present, then it's annoying but she was playing by the rules. (I've no idea if that's correct of not). If she didn't sell them because she thinks you are an addict then she was being unreasonable and you should complain. I can't believe she said that in front of customers.

I wonder if it was actually the former, but she doean't like not having the "power" and so said it was the latter.... In which case, you should complain anyway because she was an idiot and embarrassed you to save face.

Jobsworth , not what you need when you feel like that poor you. I was once refused paracetamol and brufen at a supermarket because they couldn't sell me 2 products that contain paracetamol - but brufen doesn't contain paracetamol said I, yes it does I was told and anyway you might overdose. Have never had a problem buying them together since.

I suspect the latter, pharmacist was not there so she thought she would play god and be on a power trip.

The pharmacy has been open about a year. I've probably bought 2 or 3 packets in that time. Funny thing is, I don't remember ever being served by this particular woman, it's usually a young girl with differently painted nails (which makes me remember her).

Maybe they've got a photo of me behind the counter "WARNING - POTENTIAL HEADACHE TABLET ABUSER".

If these tablets are SO dangerous, surely they should be made "prescription only" ?

My best friend sent her DH to the chemist to buy some feminax and the pharmacist refused to sell it to him! For much the same reasons-glared at him suspiciously as he was male and mentioned addiction....

They are only dangerous if you take more than 8 in 24 hours. Exactly the same with paracetamol. You can get addicted to codeine but you'd have to be taking shit loads of the stuff. I'd report her op she's sounds bad for buisness if you ask me.

Thanks Pumpernickel10, I will do. As you say, if she had said "sorry, I can't sell them to you while the Pharmacist is out" then fine. I would have been but OK... but to be talked to like that in a queue of people. Not good.

I'd complain, perhaps not for refusing to sell them to you as the pharmacist wasn't there, but certainly for stigmatising you as an addict and humiliating you in front of other customers. Fucking bitch!

I had a similar experience. Assistant refused to sell me Anadin as I'd just picked up a prescription for lithium carbonate. Said there were interactions and there was "a black spot" against it on her little list (shades of Treasure Island!). I know my interactions back to front and inside out, so I knew she was talking bollocks. I asked to see the pharmacist and was told she wasn't there. Erm - who dispensed my prescription, then? Insult to injury - the assistant had shouted into the dispensary (loudly enough to be heard in the shop) SHE takes lithium. Can SHE have Anadin? I was taught to believe that to refer to someone as SHE is the height of rudeness and I didn't want my prescription broadcast to a shopload of people either.

I'm afraid she got it straight from the shoulder (no profanity though) ending with "you've just lost a customer". I went next door to ASDA and got their own brand - cheaper, and no backchat. I never went to that pharmacy again, but didn't complain as in my case there was a danger of not being taken seriously because of my illness. BTW my GP was furious when I told her what had happened!